Jenna pulled into her parking spot back at home, the tears had stopped and dried on her face. How could this be happening? She thought to herself. He had seemed so...genuine. She really thought he had loved her. She had been a fool, like always, trusting and naïve and willing to give herself to someone completely. And he had just lied and manipulated and fucked her and used her. He was no different than any other asshole out there.
She went into her apartment and went straight to her bed, she lied down, face in the pillow and recapped the evening's events. She had gotten the mail for Max during the day; the key was on his counter. They didn't have any secrets from each other; it wasn't a big deal to get his mail. She wouldn't have even looked through it but the only thing in there was an envelope and the return address was from Michigan Corrections. She knew that meant prison or jail; something funky and couldn't help but open it, just to curb her curiosity. Max didn't have anything to hide, it wouldn't matter. But it had been a letter about his parole, and his next visit he needed to attend with his parole officer.
At first Jenna's mind spun, shock seeping through her, her head buzzed and her vision tunneled to nothing but the center of the paper as she stared. Max had been in prison? It said in the letter he had been released from the Ionia Maximum Security Prison. That was about an hour and a half away from home. But how? Max never mentioned this. He had been in Minnesota before he came here. But then it began to sink in.
No, he hadn't been in Minnesota; that was a lie. He had lied to her. The things he had done, they were all lies. Then she began to go over things he had told her about his life. The stories about his family, they didn't always add up. Sometimes he called his Grandmother, 'Grandma', and sometimes, 'Nana'; which isn't a big thing, but just kind of strange to not have a specific name for her. It had seemed a little weird to Jenna, but nothing worth questioning.
But when Max talked about his life, about his family, he never seemed excited, or happy, or even upset. There didn't seem to be any emotion behind any of his stories. But when he talked about Greg, there was. There obviously was a strong bond there, you could tell in the way Max spoke about him; but not with any of his family. Now Jenna wondered if any of it was even true.
She had sat at his table for who knows how long, contemplating all of this, wondering if she should be afraid. Had he murdered someone? Hurt a woman? Was he dangerous? Was he violent? He had never been with her, he had never even yelled at her, or cussed at her. He was such a sweetheart, but maybe that was all a façade. Maybe that's not who he really was. Jenna didn't even hear her phone go off when he called, she was too engulfed in her thoughts.
Then when he came into the apartment she panicked. She hasn't decided yet how she wanted to handle the situation and Max was suddenly there, kneeling next to her, touching her and she couldn't take it. She couldn't handle the deceit and betrayal of being lied to day after day. She had left and never wanted to see him again. He had a lot of things at her place and she, at his. But she couldn't think about that right now, she'd figure out a way to get her things back, but right now she needed to have a conversation with Greg and Amy. Max hadn't been the only one lying to her.
* ***
Max sat at Jenna's kitchen table, it was past 7 o'clock and he couldn't understand where she was. She should be home by now, he thought. He still had a key to her apartment and had let himself in. He needed to talk to her, whether she wanted to or not. He had gotten a call earlier that day from Greg, letting him know Jenna had came by, frantic and very angry. She had demanded an explanation from Greg, and of course Amy had no idea about the lies they had been telling, but luckily she wasn't there and Greg spoke with Jenna alone. After a lot of begging in Greg's part she had agreed to not get Amy involved but was still very upset with Greg.
She had told him how she felt, like she was been used and manipulated and that crushed Max. The last thing Max wanted to do was hurt Jenna. And she was wrong about him, about his feelings, about his intentions. He needed to prove that to her, he needed her to see.
As the day turned dark, so did Jenna's apartment. Max sat in the darkness waiting for her. He didn't want to turn the light on for fear of alarming her, if she saw her light on, she wouldn't come inside. So there he sat, at the table, with nothing to do and nothing to see, just waiting.
Max finally heard the key in the door around 9:30. His body tensed and his nerves rattled him to his core. He had gone over in his brain for hours what he would say to her. Now it was all gone. His brain was like pudding and his legs were like Jell-o as he stood. The door shut and he could hear Jenna moving around in the darkness, he was waiting for the light to come on, but it never did. He saw her figure move across the big window in her living room and head into the bedroom. There, she finally turned on her lamp on the dresser.
Max slowly walked towards the bedroom. Not sure how he should get her attention, he didn't want to frighten her. He didn't want to see her turn and look at him with the same disgust and hurt she had the day before. Couldn't he just stand in the shadows and watch her? She doesn't know I'm here, he thought. He stood in the hall, out of sight watching as Jenna sat down on the foot of her bed. She sighed deeply; she looked so tired.
Max wanted with every bit of his being to go in there and hold her, touch her, kiss her. Make her forget all of this ever happened. He wanted to be inside of her, making her come. He wanted her to tell him she loved him over and over. But he knew that wasn't going to happen, and that's why he stayed in the darkness.
Jenna ran her fingers through her dark hair and hung her head. Her face now covered. She started to shake and Max realized she was crying. Max closed his eyes, his heart burning in guilt. He didn't want to see this. He stepped into her bedroom, but she still didn't see him.
"Jenna?" Max mumbled, quietly. Jenna jumped from the surprise and looked up at him from her bed. She gasped at him and quickly stood up. She stared at him for a few moments, Max couldn't read her expression.
"Get out," She demanded, her voice quiet and weak. She had stopped crying, but sniffed and wiped at her nose. Max stood in her doorway, feeling uncomfortable and awkward. He took a few steps into her room and she backed up; her body visible tensing. "Max, I mean it, get out!" she said, her voice stronger this time.
"Jenna..." Max trailed off; taking another few steps towards her. "Please, let me explain." He begged. He licked his lips, and tried to swallow, his mouth was unbelievably dry.
"I don't want to hear it, I can't." She said, tears filling back up in her eyes. She shook her head at him and looked away, refusing to make eye contact with him.
"Jenna, I love you. I'm not who you think I am."
"Yeah, I realize that," Jenna scoffed, crossing her arms.
